'Simulated Assassination' gone awry?

[Tim Gratz]

Great photo, James.

I am still trying to run down the claim (in "Hoffa Wars") that Murphy was employed by the son-in-law of Carlos Marcello. I'd like to find out when this association developed and if Mr. Smith was indeed the son-in-law of Marcello or only a business associate.

[Lee Forman]

Great photo, James.

I am still trying to run down the claim (in "Hoffa Wars") that Murphy was employed by the son-in-law of Carlos Marcello. I'd like to find out when this association developed and if Mr. Smith was indeed the son-in-law of Marcello or only a business associate.

For one, I would like to continue to see Tim Gratz on the Forum. I don't always 'get' him, but I see many times where he adds value and contributes. And I believe that he has something he'd like to get off his chest - I have no idea what it is, but I look forward to that day when he reveals it.

Tim - that would be an interesting connection....imo.

- lee

[Tim Gratz]

Just a thought that perhaps someone could run with . . .

If it was to be a fake assassination attempt, the object would presumably be to shoot at JFK and miss (of course).

Remember the shot that missed General Walker.

Was it a real attempt to murder him or just a staged effort?

If staged, why?

[Robert Charles-Dunne]

Just a thought that perhaps someone could run with . . .

If it was to be a fake assassination attempt, the object would presumably be to shoot at JFK and miss (of course).

Remember the shot that missed General Walker.

Was it a real attempt to murder him or just a staged effort?

If staged, why?

Fast forward nearly a decade:

George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer [you might remember that, Tim.] When the "evidence" emerges, it turns out that Bremer had previously stalked Nixon to Canada. After the Wallace attempt, anybody suggesting that this shooting was arranged by its single greatest beneficiary - Richard Nixon - must somehow rationalize how/why the same assailant would also be trying to kill Nixon. Ergo, the rational mind could only conclude that, as an intended Bremer victim, Nixon couldn't have been Bremer's sponsor in shooting Wallace.

Likewise, we know that immediately after the JFK news broke, Walker walked up and down the aisles of the plane he was on, instructing others to remember that he was there, and therefore had an alibi proving he wasn't responsible for the Kennedy murder. By pointing to the earlier attempt on him in April '63, and blaming that on Oswald, Walker was shielding himself from allegations of complicity in the JFK matter. Again, anyone suggesting Walker participated in the Kennedy assassination must rationalize how/why the same assassin would also be trying to kill Walker.

Of course, in this instance, the ballistics evidence didn't line up with Oswald's weapon. Despite what the FBI and WC may have concluded about Oswald's alleged attempt upon Walker, the bullet retrieved from the General's den wall was not a copper jacketed 6.5 calibre round. Moreover, on that occasion, Oswald was not a lone nut, in that he had a confederate drive him from the Walker shooting scene, according to the single eyewitness, the boy next door.

There is no actual evidence implicating Oswald in the Walker attempt. What we are left with is only this: Walker's own instant assertion that Oswald was the gunman who tried to kill him [which appears to be the genesis for this tale]; Marina's testimony [which wholly contradicted her initial response that her husband hadn't tried to shoot anyone and didn't even own a gun]; the DeMohrenschildts' testimony that when they joked about Oswald having "missed" Walker, he didn't respond appropriately; and an undated note from Oswald that didn't specify what it referred to, but which Marina acknowledged in her testimony stemmed from the Walker attempt.

If the Walker attempt had been staged by him in April to preclude Walker becoming a suspect in the assassination in November, one would think he'd at least arrange to use the same weapon in April that would be found at the November assassination scene.

One must also wonder aloud how it was that the deadly assassin in November - two hits at a moving target out of three shots fired in less than optimum circumstances - could have missed in April a stationary target, when firing from a lesser distance, with unlimited time to acquire the target in his sights.

[Tim Gratz]

Well of course I agree with most of what Robert says in this post.

I do not know whether Oswald shot at Walker, in fact I doubt it for the reason Robert states.

And I am now reasonably convinced that Oswald did not shoot at JFK.

The bullet that missed Walker missed, I understand, by a narrow margin. Nevertheless it raises the question whether the attempt on Walker was intended to fail.

As Robert points out, it does not seem to make sense that Walker staged the attempt on his own life (for the reason Robert stated).

The Walker shooting does not seem to "line up" with the fake assasination attempt suggested by Wean. I remain baffled how it fits into the assassination plot.

[Tim Carroll]

George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer [you might remember that, Tim.] When the "evidence" emerges, it turns out that Bremer had previously stalked Nixon to Canada. After the Wallace attempt, anybody suggesting that this shooting was arranged by its single greatest beneficiary - Richard Nixon - must somehow rationalize how/why the same assailant would also be trying to kill Nixon. Ergo, the rational mind could only conclude that, as an intended Bremer victim, Nixon couldn't have been Bremer's sponsor in shooting Wallace.

Likewise, we know that immediately after the JFK news broke, Walker walked up and down the aisles of the plane he was on, instructing others to remember that he was there, and therefore had an alibi proving he wasn't responsible for the Kennedy murder. By pointing to the earlier attempt on him in April '63, and blaming that on Oswald, Walker was shielding himself from allegations of complicity in the JFK matter. Again, anyone suggesting Walker participated in the Kennedy assassination must rationalize how/why the same assassin would also be trying to kill Walker.

The Walker attempt didn't just shield the right-wing general from allegations of complicity in the JFK matter; it provided the same kind of misdirectional cover for right-wingers generally. The supposed attempt on Walker, in which a stationary target was missed, was a key element in the establishment of Oswald as a crazed commie. Similarly, the claim that Nixon had been Bremer's target didn't just absolve Nixon as his sponsor; it presented Bremer as a left-wing extremist rather than a right-wing one. By Hunt's own admission, part of the plan was to have Democratic Party literature strewn around Bremer's apartment, to be found later by investigators.

The Walker attempt clearly established Oswald's historical credential as a leftist sniper. To speculate for a moment, the attempt operationally established his credential as a near-miss artist who would have been capable of shooting Connally, just as Zangara missed FDR and killed Cermak.

T.C.

[Lee Forman]

Bill Decker with Audie Murphy and Wanda Hendrix. Hendrix was an actress who married Murphy. They honeymooned in Dallas where Decker made Murphy an honorary deputy.

An assassination related connection rarely explored is John Tower and Robert Maheu. I submit much of Tower's knowledge came from this source.

FWIW.

James

Hey James.

And mentioned previously...

1946

[Howard] Hughes meets starlet Jean Peters at a party in Newport Beach, California. He invites the 19-year-old and her date, war hero/actor Audie Murphy, to fly with him to Catalina Island aboard his private plane. According to some accounts, Hughes and Peters immediately embark on an unpublicised romance and are rumoured to have become engaged before splitting in the mid-1950s. There are also persistent rumours that Hughes and Peters had an illegitimate child in 1954.

Hughes is allegedly in the 'viewing stand' and his bodyguard takes a photo of the motorcade. I have no idea if this is fact or fiction.

Murphy gives the pre-amble to the film 'War is Hell' which is playing at the Texas Theatre, built by Hughes in the 30s, where Oswald is arrested.

Towers files appear to contain 2 interesting folders:

Two folders concern Lee Harvey Oswald and the Kennedy assassination. Oswald contacted Tower, his senator, when Oswald was trying to return to the United States from the Soviet Union, and one folder contains copies of related correspondence. The second folder contains letters from citizens responding to the assassination, including several telegrams and letters blaming the "John Birchers" and "ultra-right wingers" for Kennedy's death. The senator also received letters of support, some of which are anti-Communist, anti- Semitic, and anti-civil rights. Most of the V.I.P. correspondence is with colleagues in the Senate, and includes separate files at the beginning of the subseries for Senators Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater, and John Stennis. The correspondence, which is both incoming and outgoing, contains discussion of staffing and committee/political appointments; announcements of hearings and special meetings; pleas to support bills and amendments; and position statements regarding such issues as defense, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, SALT II, the Davis-Bacon Act, the Panama Canal, the Congo, and health care.

More from one of Wean's sites...

This appointment is necessary to protect Caspar Weinberger who as Sec. of Defense had for years been in charge of all the gun-running to foreign countries and the smuggling of drugs into the U.S. If the real reason for George Bush's pardon of Weinberger was exposed the entire Mishpucka would be destroyed. In 1987 When I took all of the information and evidence to the U.S. Senate, John Tower was alive and well. He gave me his word and solemn promise that he would testify before a Senate investigative hearing and present evidence of the `phony' plot to kill JFK which lead to the `real assassination.' Senator John Tower is now dead...killed in a mysterious plane crash identical to Audie Murphy's death.

...

In the 1980 and 1984 Ronald Reagan Presidential campaign, Judge Jerome Berenson and U.S. Commissioner Ben Nordman and their Oxnard law firm controlled all the illegal gambling operations in California and all the states under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Ninth Circuit. Also all the drug smuggling coming from Asia and through the U.S. Protectorate Islands under the jurisdiction of U.S. Appeal Court Judge Harry Pregerson. These drugs came through the port facilities of Port Hueneme, Oxnard, California.

Interesting. Still wondering about that Karyn Kupcinet incident.

[James Richards]

Lee,

Let's not forget that guy photographed in Dealey Plaza who bears a striking similarity to a Hughes' bodyguard. We also have the Hughes/Maheu relationship and the Maheu/Tower relationship.

During 1975, Tower questioned Maheu at the select committee on intelligence activities hearings where Maheu took the 5th on many occasions. The question is, what did Maheu tell Tower in private?

James

[Tim Gratz]

To Tim C:

Your post makes logical sense (as always).

But what disturbs me is if it was a frame it was such a sloppy one (considering the point made by Robert about the characteristics of the bullet in Walker's den wall. Any thoughts on that, anyone?

To James:

But what Maheu may have told Tower in 1975 does not explain how he knew about the fake assassination attempt in 1963 (if Wean's story is correct). Unless one can come up with a logical reason why Tower would be "in the loop" on that issue, it is difficult to credit Wean's story.

Edited February 14, 2006 by Tim Gratz

[Tim Carroll]

Let's not forget that guy photographed in Dealey Plaza who bears a striking similarity to a Hughes' bodyguard. We also have the Hughes/Maheu relationship and the Maheu/Tower relationship.

And of course, there's Maheu's best friend, Johnny Roselli. Maheu was/is some some kind of player! Which person in Dealey Plaza resembled a Hughes bodyguard? Is this the same person?

T.C.

[Tim Gratz]

Tim you are usually correct but here you are (slightlly) wrong. Mageu started out as Rosselli's friend but in his memoirs he states he came to care less for Rosselli (words to that effect) but became a close friend of Giancana. To Maheu, Giancana was a hale fellow well met.

For what it is worth.

Edited February 14, 2006 by Tim Gratz

[Lee Forman]

Let's not forget that guy photographed in Dealey Plaza who bears a striking similarity to a Hughes' bodyguard. We also have the Hughes/Maheu relationship and the Maheu/Tower relationship.

And of course, there's Maheu's best friend, Johnny Roselli. Maheu was/is some some kind of player! Which person in Dealey Plaza resembled a Hughes bodyguard? Is this the same person?

T.C.

Hey Tim.

I think James pointed out before that this guy is a close match. Here's the photo that was for sale on eBay once. Was the 'Viewing Stand' that area on Main Street at the corner of Houston?

- lee

[James Richards]

That's him, guys.

All I know is that he is an ex Marine.

James

[Tim Carroll]

Tim you are usually correct but here you are (slightlly) wrong. Mageu [sic] started out as Rosselli's friend but in his memoirs he states he came to care less for Rosselli (words to that effect) but became a close friend of Giancana.

Records show that years after Dealey Plaza, Roselli continued in his practice of losing his FBI surveillance by walking to the rear area of the Desert Inn, where Maheu had his air-curtained home on the golf course.

T.C.

[Tim Gratz]

I accept your point, Tim, and apologize for the typo.